Day-long rain at Texas Motor Speedway provides drivers another cause for concern after race is postponed to Monday

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Mike Stone/AP

The giant TV screen announces the postponement of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race because of rain, as Darrell Walker bows his head at at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, April 6, 2014. The race was rescheduled for Monday morning. (AP Photo/Mike Stone)

FORT WORTH — NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers arrived at Texas Motor Speedway wondering how tires would hold up on high speeds as teams gambled with their setups for a seasoned track.

The drivers have another cause for concern.

How will tires hold up on high speeds as teams gambled with their setups for a track that will be slick after a day-long rain Sunday?

The field will start on a “green” track for the Duck Commander 500, pushed back to 11 a.m. Monday. A “green” track lacks the rubber that builds up during racing and increases grip, which racers relish. A “green” track can be treacherous.

This will be the first race on a speedway since the tire fiasco at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., two weeks ago. The combination of car producing more speed and downforce and teams that reached for too much produced tire problems that marred the race. There were nine cautions, including four for crashes.

“It would be kind of dumb if you didn’t have a concern coming into this,” said Joey Logano of Team Penske. “We’re definitely concerned about it.”

The problem stems from NASCAR’s new religion.

The governing body wants teams to take more gambles to produce more interesting racing, particularly on 1½-mile tracks such as TMS. To do that, NASCAR has given teams a wider range in tire-related items such as camber and air pressure.

For example, Goodyear suggested 22 pounds of pressure for its tires at Fontana. Looking for more grip, some teams went as low as 14 pounds. They asked for trouble and got it.

Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, a pair of Cup champions, suggested NASCAR may be taking the take-a-risk approach too far. Each is in favor of reasonable minimums instead of allowing teams to go to extremes. NASCAR sometimes has to save teams from themselves.

“All they are doing is asking us to push it and exploit it,” Gordon said. “If somebody goes out there and goes faster than us and is a pound lower on the left side [tires], we’re going to go a pound lower. That’s speed.

“They expect us to regulate where we’re at on those pressures and what kind of tire wear and durability we’re going to have when they can very easily fix it by going minimum across board for everybody.”

Gordon expects to start out with an approach more conservative than others, but he understands the hard decision that will arise during the race. If there are no problems early, the temptation arises to take a bit more of a chance with every pit stop.

“I know how it works,” Gordon said. “By the end of the race, if you make it to that last run, it’s going to be the toughest run that we have. You’re going to push the limits.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., a Hendrick Motorsports teammate with Gordon, is not as concerned. Earnhardt believes the problems at Fontana were more the result of a bumpy back straightaway rather than the abuse of tires.

Being conservative does not appeal to Earnhardt. He will take every inch that NASCAR gives and try to make the most of it.

“I want to be as aggressive as we can, because there is speed in that,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t think there is anybody to be concerned about. We are aggressive. Every week we have been aggressive since I started driving, and we will be aggressive long after this.”

Logano prefers more durable tires, but he understands the difficult task Goodyear has in meeting the demands of NASCAR racing. He is most interested in self-preservation.

“I don’t really want to blow out tires, because it hurts,” Logano said.

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